I drove a brand new Nissan Sentra.

My kids drive a 2020 Hyundai Tucson, purchased used (not quite a year old at the time, with barely any miles). We wanted the updated safety features for them--I feel more safe when I drive with those features, so it makes sense to me that a newer driver would also be more safe.

Our kids are close enough in age that this has become the "teen" car while my spouse and I share the other car (we both work from home and that's plenty of car for our household).

Ours got a couple years old Camry or Corolla passed down from a parent. If necessary (like parent drove an SUV or something) i would buy a new base level corolla just because used cars aren't a good deal right now.
Not sure what the argument for a luxury brand is.

Yikes. Neither. What kind of spoiled kid is getting a new car from their parents?

Used mainstream. Teens are awful drivers and suck at parking. Expect lots of dings. I would NEVER buy a teen a new car.

Our teens have a used Honda Civic and used Acura MDX (my old car).

Anonymous wrote:Used mainstream, obviously.

Mainstream cars were already safe 5 years ago.

If your child can't be trusted in a normal car, your chis5 shouldn't be driving alone.

+1.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What did you drive as a teen and what does your teenager drive? What about brand, a mainstream or luxury? We have a soon to be licensed driver and spouse and I have very different opinions about what our teenager should have as a first car. One of us is in the camp of a new (2023-24) mainstream (Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Subaru type) the other is in the camp of a used (2018-2020) luxury (Audi, Lexus, Acura type). We are both citing safety features as a concern.

You should call your insurance co and ask them about the cost of insuring these cars with a teen, and pick the ones that are the lowest.

OP wouldn't be caught did in a poor person car like that. Cost doesn't even enter their mind. They are looking for an off-lease Lexus!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My college kid drives my old 14 yr old domestic car with close to 300K miles on it.

My high school kid drives my DH's 11 year old domestic car.

I'm much less concerned about the lack of blind spot detector, automatic braking, etc. in these cars, as I am the temptation of using their cell phones while driving in *any* car.

Totally irresponsible and dangerous

Np. Why?

What safety features does a used luxury car have over a new mainstream car?

When I was a teen I purchased a 15yr old death trap with my own money.

We purchased a new Hyundai for my oldest son in 2022. Used cars were sooooo expensive it did not make sense to buy used. Lots of great safety features as well.

Did not make sense to give him one of our cars. The trade in value is higher than what we purchased the Hyundai for.

Anonymous wrote:My college kid drives my old 14 yr old domestic car with close to 300K miles on it.

My high school kid drives my DH's 11 year old domestic car.

I'm much less concerned about the lack of blind spot detector, automatic braking, etc. in these cars, as I am the temptation of using their cell phones while driving in *any* car.

Totally irresponsible and dangerous

New mainstream. They’re constantly coming out with new safety features, making the news cars safer. Also, there’s not much of a discount on used cars these days unless they have high mileage or are several years old.

we bought a new honda after we found that 2019 cars were going to be very close in price. It was amazing at the prices. This was a few months ago, not sure if it is still this way. Didn't really want to buy a new car but felt stupid to buy a 4 yo car for only a thousand less, just so I didn't give my kid a new car.

FWIW, we did get the new car under MSRP, and 2020 and above were more expensive somehow?

HS son is driving a 16y old CRV that we bought for him. Yes, I would have loved to buy him a car with all of the safety features, but that wasn't in our budget and he needed a car. Even with that car (and a good student discount) his insurance is $200/month.

Ours will get our 4 year old car. I’m getting a new one and I will be passing it down. If we didn’t have one that had modern safety features, I’d get a newer car. We will not give our new driver the Jeep. Those should be reserved for drivers with more experience.

Anonymous wrote:What did you drive as a teen and what does your teenager drive? What about brand, a mainstream or luxury? We have a soon to be licensed driver and spouse and I have very different opinions about what our teenager should have as a first car. One of us is in the camp of a new (2023-24) mainstream (Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Subaru type) the other is in the camp of a used (2018-2020) luxury (Audi, Lexus, Acura type). We are both citing safety features as a concern.

You should call your insurance co and ask them about the cost of insuring these cars with a teen, and pick the ones that are the lowest.